Paper-holding attachment for drafting boards



Feb. 10, 1953 R. J. WOOD PAPER-HOLDING ATTACHMENT FOR DRAFTING BOARDSFiled July 14, 1951.

flmfiisell I 5175005 4 D from 222 6* j Patented Feb. 10, 1953 UNITEDSTAT B WENT PAPER-HOLDING ATTACHMENT For:

South Sudbury, lVIass. Apps-carats siily 14, 1951,fseria1 vggese eea jThis invention pertains to drafting tables or boards and more especially"to 'apaper -holding j attachm'ent for such a tableor board; Whenworkingupon largedrawings,'- forexampl'e architectural drawings or large scalemachine assemblies, it is often necessary for the draftsman mit shiftingof. the paper so as to bring any de-- sired: part of the sheet withineasy reach, but all such devices known to "me lare complicated inconstruction; expensive. to makeand' 'apply; and

usually require major changes in the board or table with which they areto be assembled. I am alsoaware that it is a common practice amongdraftsmen to move the papers-until its lower p lifiiQn han s downbelowthe lower edge of the boar-gi but; this ;is :undesirablai. since itexposes the-depending portion "of the paper to damage acrosstheloweredge of the boardv .Qne object of the present invention is to provide-a very simpleand inexpensive dev-ice-for holding more or-lessof.the drawing paper at'the lower edge of the board and: which may heap--plied to existing boards or. tables by the use ofsiihple attaching means.whichcauses'little, it

any,.damage to the board.. A further object is to provide. apaper-holding attachment for a draftingboard ortable so designed thatthe paper may be "fed into it merely by applying downwardly directedpressure to the surface of the paper and without recourse tothe useofrollers or. other mechanical elements. A further object is. to providea paper holder readily attachable to the lower parrot a drafting boardor table and which doesnot in any way, either 'of itself or through itsattachment, obstruct the upper surface of the board withrespect to thefreeuse of the customary drafting implements. -A further-object is toprovide a paper holder of the class. described which occupies but littlespace and which provides asmoothly rounded surface of substantialradiusover which the draftsman may lean.

A further'object is to provide. a paper holder for atta'chmentto adrafting board or table compriss asingle p ece of sheet materialcurledjtopro- -5 Claims. (C s 2 vancing edgeof the paper may contact andwhich causes theipaper'tojassume the form" of a scroll devoid ofsharpi'bends'or'creases. "A further ob ject. is 'to'provide' a paperholder capable of retaining a substantial length or paper and from whichthe paper may readilybe' withdrawn at will. A further cbject'i's'toprovide a holder which may beswung'upwardly to provide clearance for adrawer beneath the table. Other andfurth'er objects and advantages ofthe inventiorifwill be pointed out in'the following i'mored etailed de-'scription and by reference totheaccompanying drawingswhereinz- Fig. 1 isafragmentaryiplanview-showing the paper-holding device of the presentinvention mounted on the lower-edgeof a drafting; board or table; 3

Fig. 2 is a fragmentarrsectio ,tolarger-scale, on the line 2-2 of '1?Fig. 3 is a fragmentary vertical section, to.

larger scale, on the line s-'3 of'l ig. 1; r

Fig. 4 is a section, similar to Fig. 3 but on the line 44 of Fig. lshowing the-lowerportion of.

a sheet of drafting paper coiled within the holder; Fig- 5 is afragmentary plan view illustrating a modification; and

by contactwith the draftsmans body as he leans---- Fig. 6 is asection onthe line 6---6' of Fig.5..

Referring'to the dratvirigsthe numeral I designates a drafting boardortable such'ascustomari- 1y used .bydraftsnieh for-supporting the sheetof paper upon which a drawing is to be made. While this part I maybeeither a table,-having its own supporting, legs; or. an independentdrafting board, it is hereafter for convenience referred. to

:as a drafting board. .This board may be arranged horizontally, as hereshown, but it is to be u'n= derstood that it may be arranged on anincline as is also customary. This board has the top surface 2 and theedge. hereinafter referred to as the forward edge this being the edgewhich is nearest to the draftsman whil'e he "is working;

The board also hasth'eleft and right edges 5 and.

6 respectively.

The paper. holder ofthe: present-invention is here designated generallyby'the numeral 1 and is designed to extend along the lower edge of-thedrafting board. and'usually from theleft-hand edge, to theright-handedge of the board, al

though it is not necessary that the length of the holder equal the widthof the board. This holder."

7 is conveniently made by bending a single sheet. of stiifshape-retaining material; for example, sheet metal to forma-generally'cylindrifornr volutecomprising a single-convolution 8 which,

as shown in Fig. t isso operative '2 'locat the lower edge surface ofthe board is tangent to the outer surface of the convolution 8. Thisconvolution 8 forming the peripheral wall of a hollow casing whichdefines a paper-receiving chamber C having a cylindrically curved,concave inner surface 9, the axis of the convolution 8 being parallel tobut spaced from the lower edge 3 of the board when the parts areassembled. As illustrated, the axis of the convolution 8 is above theplane of the lower surface of the board. The inner edge of the sheetforming the convolution 8 is indicated at H). The outer marginal portionll of this convolution 8 is preferably substantially straight andtangent to the convolution proper and preferably has a finished edge I2,made for example, by folding the material upon itself, or otherwiseproviding a bead or rounded edge. The inner edge H] of the convolution 8is spaced from the inner surface of the straight tangent portion H so asto provide a space through which the paper may enter the chamber Cwithin the holder. Except for its tangential portion H, the entirevolute is forward of the plane of the lower edge of the board, so thatit may be applied to a board or table having a drawer or apron at itsunderside.

As illustrated in Figs. 2 and 3, the opposite end portions of the edgel2 are deflected downwardly, as shown at I 3, to provide spacer elementsfor contact with the upper surface of the board, these spacer elementsbeing provided with holes for the reception of fastener elements such asthe screws M (Fig. 2) by means of which the holder may be secured to theboard in the position of use. By the provision of the spacer members l3,

the mediate portion of the edge I2 is raised from the upper surface 2 ofthe board so as to provide a vertically narrow entrance slot l5 (Figs. 2and 4) through which the edge of the drafting paper P may be advancedinwardly into the chamber C.

In Figs. 5 and 6 a slight modification is illustrated wherein the samenumerals indicate parts similar to those hereinbefore described. In thisarrangement the marginal portion I l of the outer convolution of thecase is curled at its free edge H (Fig. 5) about a reinforcing wire It'The ends it of this wire project at opposite ends of the case to formhinge pintles which are received in ears 17 formed in brackets 18 whichare attached by screws to the forward edge of the drafting board I.Preferably, although not necessarily, the brackets l 8 are extendeddownwardly and forwardly to provide supports Is for the opposite endportions of the casing i. With this arrangement it is possible to swingthe casing 1 upwardly about the axis defined by the pintles i6 and thusif the casing I be of such diameter as to project substantially belowthe lower surface of the board I it may be swung up out of the way togive access to a drawer or shelf beneath the board; With thisarrangement the members 11 constitute the spacers for holding the part1! spaced above the upper surface 2 of the board.

When herein the holder is referred to as cylindrically curved, this doesnot mean that the directrix of the curve is necessarily circular, sinceit may, and preferably is, some type of spiral.

In the use of this device and assuming that it has been attached to thedrafting board and that drafting paper P rests on the upper surface ofthe board, if the draftsman finds it desirable to move the paperdownwardly, that is, to slide it forwardly toward the edge 3 of theboard, he may remove the fastening means which secures thepaperto theboard and merely by exerting downwardly forwardly directed force uponthe paper, that is, force directed toward the edge 3 of the board, thelower portion of the paper will slide through the slot l5 and, cominginto contact with the concavely curved inner surface 9 of the holder,will gradually curl upon itself as shown in Fig. 4 to form a scroll,without necessitating the employment of a roller or other element forsupporting the coiled paper. In the same way the paper may readily bewithdrawn from the holder merely by exerting force in a direction awayfrom the edge 3, the paper being freely drawn out from the chamber 0',uncoiling as it is withdrawn.

Not only does this holder provide convenient means for coiling the paperand for protecting it from damage but it also provides a smoothlyrounded abutment surface at the forward edge of the board, of a diameterwhich may be somewhat greater than the thickness of the board, as hereillustrated, of a radius approximating the thickness of the board, andwhich thus provides a more comfortable surface against which thedraftsman may lean than the usual square edge surface of the draftingboard.

While as above suggested this holder may be made by curling a singlesheet of stiff metal, itis contemplated as within the scope of theinvention that it may be made in other ways and from other materials,for example, from one of the synthetic plastics or the like and thatwhen made from such a material it may be made by a molding process or inany other suitable Way. Moreover, although desirable ways of attachingthis holder to the board have herein been suggested it is to beunderstood that any other suitable means for securing it in place may beemployed within the scope of the present invention.

I claim:

1. A paper holder for use with a drafting board, said holder being ofelongate tubular form comprising a single sheet of stiff sheet materialcurled to provide a paper holding chamber whose inner wall iscylindrically concave, the outer marginal portion of said sheet beingsubstantially tangent to said concave wall and having a beaded edge, andhinge means for securing the holder to the drafting board, said hingemeans being so designed that said marginal portion overhangs and isspaced from the upper surface of the board thereby to provide anentrance slot with the axis of the concave wall parallel to and abovethe forward edge of the board.

2. In combination with a drafting board having a flat upper surface, alower surface, and a forward edge surface which is perpendicular to itsupper surface, a paper holder comprising a part having a flat surfacedesigned to contact the forward edge surface of the board, said parthaving openings therein for the reception of fasteners for attaching itto the board, a housing member hinged to said part to swing about ahorizontal axis, said housing member having a concave, cylindricallycurved, inner surface whose axis is parallel to the forward edge of theboard, the upper portion of said curved surface being positioned to beengaged by the lower edge of a piece of paper resting upon the fiatupper surface of the board as said paper is slid downwardly thereby tocause the paper to curl upon itself to form a coil adjacent to the loweredge of the board.

3. A paper holder for use with a drafting board, said holder comprisingan elongate, hollow casing defining an interior paper-holding chamberwhose inner wall is cylindrically concave, said holder comprising aportion designed to overlie the forward part of the upper surface of thedrafting board when the holder is assembled with the latter, andbrackets hinged to the casing and comprising parts designed to receivefasteners for attaching them to the board whereby the casing may beswung upwardly from its normal position.

4. A paper holder for use with a drafting board, said holder comprisingan elongate, hollow casing defining an interior paper-holding chamberwhose inner wall is cylindrically concave, said casing comprising aportion designed to overlie the upper surface of the forward part of thedrafting board when the holder is assembled with the latter, bracketshinged to the casing and comprising parts designed to receive fastenersfor attaching the brackets to the forward portion of the board wherebythe casing may be swung upwardly from its normal position, said bracketscomprising parts which underlie and form supports for the opposite endsof the casing.

5. A paper holder for use with a drafting board having a flat uppersurface, a lower surface and a fiat forward edge surface which issubstantially perpendicular to the upper surface of the board, saidholder comprising a hollow casing defining a substantially cylindricalchamber whose axis is parallel to the forward edge of the board andwhich is of a length to extend substantially from one side edge to theother side edge of the board, the holder having a vertically narrow,longitudinal paper-receiving slot at its top through which paper may beslipped into said chamber, the curved surface which defines the chamberterminating rearwardly at a longitudinally extending edge which is belowthe level of the upper surface of the board, the hollow casing whichdefines said cylindrical chamber being located forwardly of the forwardedge of the board, and means for hingedly connecting the casing to theboard whereby the casing may be swung upwardly from its normal position.

RUSSELL J. WOOD.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,249,352 Dreilick Dec. 11, 19172,174,660 Hirsch Oct. 3, 1939 2,508,470 Ritter May 23, 1950

